Lauren+Evan // Haw River Ballroom Wedding

Winter weddings hold a special place in our hearts. There’s always cafe lights, darker color schemes, and a general sense of merriment. And sometimes, if you’re lucky, a dog with a floral collar named Beryl. And, if you’re even more lucky than that, an amazing bride and groom who have impeccable taste in just about everything. They chose an incredible team of vendors (hellooo to our wedding officiant, Barbara Lodge! hellooo to a dress Lauren purchased from our previous wedding client Susan’s shop Gilded Bridal! hellooo to Stephanie Sevilla, makeup extraordinaire! hellooooo to Peter Lamb and the Wolves who we adore working with each and every time! and finally helloooo to Patty Gallivan, the General Store’s amazing wedding coordinator!). They also chose an incredible color palette (yay burgundy!), a gorgeous wooden altar that Evan’s dad handcrafted, muffs for the girls instead of bouquets, tiny little gold animals standing on small slices of geodes for their placecards that Lauren put all together herself, and a hot chocolate bar that was beautiful. Their entire setup was incredible, down to their modern chairs. It was killer.

Lauren and Evan found us through a mutual friend and we are so glad that they did. They are sweet and cooperative and really good looking and follow directions well and have that cute dog we mentioned earlier. They also did a fake snow exit, which is the first we’ve ever seen, and I have to say that it’s a pretty brilliant idea and also eco friendly. You can do this with potato flakes for an DIY idea and then add water to whomever’s hair to make instant potatoes to eat later. Their bridesmaids and groomsmen were all really nice and their cake topper spectacular. We had wonderful weather, good food, and great music. All hail the winter weddings! They are super cozy feeling, and we hope you feel the love right now. Congratulations, Lauren and Evan!

– Date: December 2, 2017
– Ceremony + Reception Venue: Haw River Ballroom // Saxapahaw, NC
– First Dance Song: “Can’t Nobody Love You” – The Zombies
– Lauren’s Occupation: Compliance and Government Relations Officer at a neato code school, Coding Dojo
– Evan’s Occupation: Super secret security sleuth, better known as Systems Administration at the State Employee’s Credit Union
– How You Met: The Internets (“Through friends” for our parents)
– Interesting Fact: Evan can juggle though he pretends like he can’t and Lauren lived in New Zealand but never met a hobbit.
– Honeymoon: Cape Town, South Africa
– Vendor Credits: Officiant – Reverend Barbara Lodge // Band – Peter Lamb and the Wolves // Florist – Wylde Flowers // Cake – Sugarland // Caterer – Saxapahaw General Store // Hair and Makeup – Stephanie Sevilla // Coordinator – Patty Gallivan // Dress – Elizabeth Dye // Bridal Salon – Gilded Bridal // Seamstress – Marie Cordella // Groomsmen Suits – ASOS

Paige+Alex // Wedding in Durham

I’d like to say that this blog post is going to be mostly about Paige and Alex, but I have to admit that I think it’s mostly going to center around their dog Davis. And I’m pretty confident that neither Paige nor Alex would fault me for doing that. When we first met them to talk about their wedding, they talked about how they were adopting Davis, a little baby red Poodle. They hadn’t yet picked him up, but plans were in the works, and we talked about how Poodles are cute if you let their hair grow out like a fluffy little monster instead of cutting it for show. True to their word, they adopted Davis shortly afterward and we fell in love with him via their Instagram account. There he is running! There he is conquering steps for the first time! There he is with his adorable German Shepherd puppy friend!

So when we finally met Davis on their wedding day, we were very excited. He was much bigger now, but he completely and 100% lived up to his hype. He’s red. He’s fluffy. He flops around a bunch. He tried to eat my gloves. He has the attention span of a young squirrel, yet is calm enough to plop down next to them during their vows and fall asleep (unless I moved in the aisle, which put Davis on high alert and is the only time to my knowledge that I did something to cause a brief ceremony disruption). He’s really, really, really good, and likes sticks. You can pick him up like a baby and he falls asleep anywhere. So here is the wedding of Davis, with a side of Paige and Alex (whom we also really adore when we’re not busy admiring their dog).

  • Date: October 20, 2015
  • Ceremony + Reception Venue: Shared Visions Retreat Center // Durham, NC
  • Paige’s Occupation: Sign Artist
  • Alex’s Occupation: Air Traffic Controller
  • How You Met: Alex worked at Starbucks and always gave me free coffee. As soon as he found out I was singe, he asked me on a date to mini golf, dinner and a movie. (He spent a lot of money on me that night for us only being teenagers.) I went home that night knowing I’d marry him one day, and the rest is history!
  • Interesting Fact: We own the world’s cutest dog (who will be a groomsman!). We’re already married and we’re doing a late wedding. We are polar opposites as far as interests go. Our birthdays are only nine days apart in February, and the dates are just each other’s numbers reversed (mine is the 12th, and his is the 21st). When we were little (9 years old-ish) we lived less than five miles apart and both had the same favorite Mexican restaurant that we both went to all the time, but we didn’t meet until we were 18.
  • Vendor Credits: Officiant – Friend, Lacee Shaw | Caterer – Porchetta Food Truck